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The ongoing tragedy in Japan, the result of a 2011, 8.9 magnitude earthquake which caused severe damage to several of the reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in the Daiichi prefecture turns another chapter today as the strongest typhoon in ten years, Wipha, is projected to hit land in the direct vicinity of the crippled complex. Storm activity in early October 2013 led to a spill of 430 litres (114 US gallons) of polluted rainwater as workers tried to empty one of 1,000 tanks used in a makeshift cooling system for the damaged reactors. It is now admitted that some of this water may have entered the ocean. Update: Following the storm which dumped 80 centimeters of rain in less than 24 hours, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO,) which operates the Fukushima Daichi plant, said that tests revealed high levels of radiation, from sources such as Strontium-90 - a fission product, and other isotopes, emitting beta rays of 1,400 becquerels (Bq) per liter in a ditch leading to the Pacific Ocean at a site located 150 meters from the ocean. The company suspects heavy rains lifted contaminated soil to the ditch and from there to the ocean. Test results are far over the legal limit of 30 Bq and 70 times the pre-storm test site levels.

An international consortium of companies now wants to alter their permit, originally promoted and drafted as serving Oregon's energy interest, to use the 223 mile-long 36 inch wide Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline to the LNG terminal in Coos Bay to sell LNG abroad. This major gas conduit, being built for export of LNG from the interior of the United Stastes to Asia and other foreign countries, LNG mined using groundwater toxic "fracking" processes (using a toxic chemical slurry and high pressure to fracture gas and oil - bearing shale structures,) will traverse the ruggedly beautiful and unspoiled Siskiyou and Coastal mountain ranges from the PGE pipeline in Malin, Oregon. The planned transfer capacity of the pipeline is projected to average at 292 Billion Cubic Feet per year with a maximum annual throughput of 365 BCF.

Dr Samantha Jove, professor of Marine Sciences and leader of a team of marine scientists from University of Georgia who were among the first to report huge underwater oil plumes thousands of feet below the GOM surface, has reported that recent submarine surveys of the ocean floor in the BP Macondo spill region show little sign of recovery. As stated in a recent chat on Science Now, her journey to the sea bottom revealed a total lack of infaunal organisms (worms,) and holothurians (sea cucumbers,) as well as dead brittle stars, a few sickly crabs, and oiled, dead corals. Flocculent (oil mousse) deposits were found at every site sampled and there was a striking lack of evidence of microbial degradation leading her to conclude that, “[s]ome component of the microbial community that degrades such complex carbon structures is ‘stuck'.” In response to questions regarding the potential for dispersants to affect such microbial activity, Dr. Mandy replied, “[d]ispersants could influence microbial activity–we are trying to get dispersant from NALCO to study its impacts on pure cultures and natural microbial communities. And, I have heard that ammonium sulfate was added to the dispersant to alleviate nitrogen limitation of the oil degrading microorganisms…” Dr. Mandy, who suffers from asthma, claimed she had breathing difficulty in the area around the wellhead before it was capped, and where people were suffering burns. While sampling oily sediments, she and several team members suffered red rashes – a condition she had never experienced working in oily mud previously.

A consortium of international companies: Britain's Anglo American and Rio Tinto, Canada's Northern Dynasty Minerals, and Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation have plans to dig one of the world's largest open pit mines in pristine Alaska watershed above Bristol Bay. Bristol Bay, located in the Southeast corner of the Bering Sea, is home to the largest sockeye salmon run in the world. Over the last 20 years, the regional sockeye salmon harvest has averaged an impressive 25.5 million fish per year. Fingerling salmon, spawned in the vast array of surrounding tributaries spend the first year of their five-year life cycle in Bristol Bay before migrating out to sea.The mine, as planned, would have a depth of 2000 feet and stretch for over two miles. Huge earthen dams, as high as 50 stories, would be depended upon to hold 10 Billion tons of mining waste mixed with cyanide, sulfuric acid, arsenic, and other toxic chemicals.The region is known for seismic activity, adding to the danger of dam collapse.

The great benefits of local (meaning located at the place of consumption) fuel cell design and installation are: the reduction of energy delivery cost (as there is significant loss to heat and electromagnetic radiation in long range electricity delivery,) availability, firm power (as power generation is local so hopefully not subjected to outages or overloads,) multi-fuel, bio-fuel compatibility (high temperature fuel cell designs can tolerate lower hydrogen densities such as those found in bio-fuels.)Basic fuel cells design is Continue reading →

Behold, the works of sorcerers of legend do pale in comparison to the alimental powers of manifestation from the ethers commanded by Senator Harry Reid during a December 19, 2010 conjuration in the mostly empty senate chambers, behold, the dreaded 236 page FDA Food Safety Modernization Act:

The legislative clerk read as follows:A bill (H.R. 2751) to accelerate motor fuel savings nationwide and provide incentives to registered owners of high polluting automobiles to replace such automobiles with new fuel efficient and less polluting automobiles.Continue reading →

Caltech is working on a second generation technology “solar reactor” using a cerium oxide catalyst. Typical solar energy “mirror farms” use many parabolic mirrors to focus the sun's energy on a central boiler unit to produce steam and thereby energy (using the steam to spin a turbine.) Caltech's design takes it several steps further by introducing a cerium oxide catalyst and carbon dioxide to the water as well as cycling the solar input to the tank. The reason the suns rays are cycled is because the cerium oxide catalyst strips oxygen from its surroundings when cooled. So, when cooling the catalyst strips oxygen from H2O and CO2 resulting in carbon monoxide and free hydrogen which can then be used as fuel.

Largest Solar Energy Installation in History to Begin Construction in Southern California Desert

Brightsource Energy Inc. will begin construction soon of a large solar powered electrical generating facility in San Bernardino County near the Nevada border. The project is designed to employ over 170,000 mirrors focused on steam generating towers to develop electricity from sunlight via steam turbines. The project, now backed by a $1.37 billion loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy and known as the Ivanpah Electric Generating System will contract with Southern California Edison to provide 370 Megawatts of power by 2013. The final build output using seven towers is planned at 1300 Megawatts.

Beef containing harmful pesticides, veterinary antibiotics and heavy metals is being sold to the public because federal agencies have failed to set limits for the contaminants or adequately test for them, a federal audit finds.A program set up to test beef for chemical residues ďis not accomplishing its mission of monitoring the food supply for Ö dangerous substances, which has resulted in meat with these substances being distributed in commerce,Ē Continue reading →

Published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences, the study contradicts Monsanto findings and offers evidence that ingestion of commercially available GMO corn variants can have adverse health effects. In the study, male and female rats were fed three main commercialized genetically modified (GM) maize (NK 603, MON 810, MON 863) varieties.The results of the study showed effects associated with the kidney and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs. Other abnormal effects were also noticed in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system. Male rats in the study showed much greater changes than femaes. The scientists concluded that their data highlighted signs of hepatorenal toxicity and direct or indirect metabolic consequences, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn.